Snowy pavement blamed for I-57 accident that injured 4

Four federal Bureau of Prisons employees were injured Thursday morning on the shoulder of northbound I-57, when a pickup truck lost control on snowy pavement and slid into their vehicles.

Two vans full of employees from the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion were on their way to a training session early Thursday, when they pulled over about four miles south of Marion to help at an accident that had just happened. It was snowing, and the pavement was snowy, authorities said.

The 20 employees piled out of the vans. Less than a minute later, at 6:11 a.m., the driver of a pickup truck lost control on the slippery pavement and hit the vans, pushing them into the four employees standing nearby, according to Illinois State Police.

Four prison workers were injured and were taken to a hospital with what an Illinois State Police spokesman called non-lifethreatening injuries.

The original accident involved a 2004 Ford F-250 truck driven by Robert M. Davis of Creal Springs, and a 2011 Ford Ranger driven by Shane G. Halvorsen, of Grand Chain, Illinois. Both were northbound on I-57 at milepost 49, the F-250 slightly behind the Ranger. Police said the F-250 attempted to pass the Ranger on the right, lost control and slid into the right rear corner of the Ranger, causing both vehicles to slide off the roadway. The Ranger struck a tree off the right shoulder and the F-250 came to rest in the median.

Davis was cited for driving too fast for conditions.

After the vans of prison workers stopped, a 2014 Ford F-150 driven by Mitchell Ussery, 24, of Faulkner County, Arkansas, hit the vans.

The FBOP vans had their 4-way hazard lights flashing, as Ussery"s vehicle slid into the rear van, continued on and struck the front van, pushing the vans into the FBOP employees, police said.